h2g2 - 'Band on the Run' - the Cover Stars - Edited Entry 1 Conversation The cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' 1 1973 album Band on the Run featured a number of stars of the day posing with the band. In the words of Paul, this mish-mash of celebrity was 'a bit of a laugh.' It is a pastiche of a prison break with the figures caught in a searchlight. So who were these faces and what has become of them? On the sleeve, band members and guest stars are all mixed up but, from left to right, they are Michael Parkinson, Kenny Lynch, Paul McCartney, James Coburn, Clement Freud, Linda McCartney, Christopher Lee, Denny Laine and John Conteh. The Band Sir Paul McCartney Paul had formed Wings after the split of The Beatles . He was getting used to being no longer part of the most successful band in the world. Wings, of course, could be nowhere near as successful as The Beatles had been, but this album restored some of Paul's rapidly-flagging credibility. Paul went on to have a highly successful solo career and has ventured into writing classical pieces.

In 1984 his first classical piece was 'Eleanor's Dream', with the 'Liverpool Oratorio' becoming his first full-length piece, followed by 'Standing Stone'. He has, however, yet to learn how to write musical notation. His 2002 tour caused controversy when he decided to recredit the old Beatles' tracks he performed, naming the main or only writer first, so that his tracks were credited McCartney/Lennon. Hence he broke the long-standing agreement that songs be credited Lennon/McCartney. Linda McCartney New York-born Linda Eastman was a photo journalist for Rolling Stone magazine when, in the late 1960s, she took a series of pictures of The Beatles. She fell in love with Paul and broke the hearts of many girls the world over by becoming Mrs McCartney. John Lennon also blamed her for the split-up of The Beatles. Critics say that Linda was only a member of Wings because she was Paul's wife, although she had some musical credibility with her keyboard playing. She and Paul spent only one night of their married life apart, when he had been arrested in Japan for carrying cannabis. Together with Paul she had a family of four children.

As well as continuing with her photography she was an advocate for vegetarianism and animal rights, supporting charities such as Lynx (the UK anti-fur lobby) and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Following the success of her 1989 book Linda McCartney's Home Cooking she set up her own company producing vegetarian ready meals. She died of cancer in 1998. Denny Laine Denny had been in a variety of bands before teaming up with the McCartneys in Wings. Most famously he was guitarist and vocalist for The Moody Blues who, despite only releasing one album, remain famous thanks to their lyrical version of 'Go Now' 2 , a tune that is associated very much with the 1960s era. He was also in an early line-up of the band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the incident in Japan, Wings never reunited. Paul branched out on a solo career, and so did Denny. His first effort, in a McCartneyesque moment, included his wife Jo Jo on vocals, as well as Wings drummer Steve Holly.

The Denny Laine Band, as they became, only appeared on Denny's album Japanese Tears, did a tour and appeared on various TV shows - they never released an album. Several failed projects followed, along with a few solo albums, before he returned in 1994 to release four solo albums and become part of the original line-up of World Famous Rockers along with Spencer Davis (vocals, guitar ), Michael Monarch (guitar), Randy Meisner ( bass ), Nick St Nicholas (bass) and Bruce Gary ( drums 3 ). The Others James Coburn Coburn had been the star of several TV series, including Klondike and Acapulco in the 1960s, as well as making his film breakthrough in Our Man Flint. He carried on performing in a number of character roles in major dramas and comedic films. He had roles in Maverick (1994) and The Nutty Professor (1998), but he crowned his acting career when he received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the 1999 film Affliction, in which he played Nick Nolte's abusive father. He died in 2002.

John Conteh Conteh was a leading British light-heavyweight boxer, born, like McCartney, in Liverpool. He was one of ten children in a family that had emigrated from Sierra Leone. He held the World Boxing Council title from 1974 to 1977. Bob Foster, who had previously held the title, refused to fight Conteh, who instead defeated Jorge Ahmunda of Argentina for the vacated title. He successfully defended his title five times, the last two came after a 15-month absence from the ring after breaking his hand on two occasions while sparring. Conteh, like his predecessor, was stripped of the title for refusing to fight. In his case he pulled out of a fight against Miguel Cuello two days before it was due to take place in Monaco. He attempted a comeback to regain the title but, in 1979, he lost the first of his fights against Saad Muhammad on points after going the full 15 rounds. The following year he tried again, but was on the canvas five times before the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round. After this fight, he trashed his hotel room.

He was living a rock star lifestyle after being an album star on a rock album. He attempted to fight on, but an irregularity was found at the base of his skull and his licence to fight was revoked. His boxing career over, his wife divorced him for having an affair. However, the last days of his career had also suffered due to excesses of alcohol and cocaine. He turned his life around, though. He kicked both habits and started to appear on TV as a boxing commentator and guest on game shows. He has also turned his hand to acting, which, unlike Frank Bruno 4 , he appeared in productions other than pantomime and still pops up on shows, even after more than 20 years out of the ring. Sir Clement Freud Think of any famous Freud - Clement is related to them. He is a grandson of Sigmund. Clement, in his own right, was a successful broadcaster, writer and chef, and was at one time director of the Playboy Club. In 1973 he stood for the Liberal Party in the safe Conservative seat of the Isle of Ely 5 .

He took 38% of the vote in the by-election at a seat the Liberals hadn't even contested in the 1970 general election, and he went on to defend it four times until he was defeated in 1987. He continues to appear on the Radio 4 show Just a Minute . He has been the rector of Dundee University and in 2002 he beat Germaine Greer in the election for new rector for Scotland's oldest university at St Andrews . His autobiography plays on his family history and love of wordplay when he titled it Freud Ego. Christopher Lee CBE Born in 1922 to a colonel and an Italian Contessa, Lee served in the Royal Air Force and Special Forces during World War II. On being demobbed he sought employment in the film industry. He got work on stage, in opera and radio as well as having, for a period, a full-time contract with the Rank film studio. However, it was for the Hammer Horror films that he was best known, until his appearances as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and as Count Dooku in Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Altogether he has appeared in over 250 films. He has a number of distinctive acting credits and honours: He is the only actor who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes and his brother Mycroft. He executed King Charles I of England and King Louis XVI of France. He has appeared in more sword fights in front of the camera than probably any other actor in history. In his early career he did all of his own stunts and still attempts to do as many as possible. He is an honorary member of three stuntmen's unions. He is the actor instantly recognisable as a vampire due to the time he spent making movies at Hammer. The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats lists him as being the international star with the most screen credits . He was offered the role of James Bond before Sean Connery. Like Connery, he once played his golf off a scratch handicap 6 . He is the only cousin of Ian Fleming to appear in a Bond movie - in the film The Man with the Golden Gun . Kenny Lynch OBE Lynch is a Stepney-born black Londoner, the youngest of 13 children. He first appeared in 1951, aged 12, with his sister, the singer Maxine Daniels.

At 16 he joined Ed Nichol's band and later Bob Miller's before joining the army in 1957. 'Mountain of Love', his debut single for the HMV record label, was a hit in 1960. In 1963 he had two successive top 10 hits: 'Up On The Roof' and 'You Can Never Stop Me Loving You'. Although the hits started to dry up, he continued to tour and perform. He also appeared on numerous TV game and variety shows. He even hosted Celebrity Squares for a while. He co-wrote the Small Faces' top ten hit 'Sha La La La Lee'. In 1983, he had a surprise chart return with a Brit-funk track 'Half The Day's Gone and We Haven't Earned a Penny on Satril'. He is still performing and recording today, as well as being involved in charity work. Michael Parkinson CBE Yorkshire-born 'Parkie' was the king of chatshows at the time of the release of Band on the Run. There are claims that he appeared on the sleeve on the promise of interviewing Paul on his show, though the interview finally took place in 2001.

In the days when TV shut down for the night, his was the show which ended a Saturday night's entertainment at 11pm. However, he started out as a local journalist in Yorkshire, before going on to the Manchester Guardian. After that he became a feature writer for the Daily Express newspaper. His TV career naturally started on Granada news bulletins, but his passion for sport soon came through when, in 1965, he started to write a weekly sports column in The Sunday Times. In 1969 he moved away from news on TV, presenting Granada's cinema review series. Then in 1971 he started an afternoon show - Teabreak - for Thames, which for a while he presented with his wife Mary before she took it over. The same year also saw the start of the chatshow Parkinson, which he also went on to produce in Australia. The first run finished in 1982, but he came back to the BBC in 1995 and is still producing classic Parkinson interview shows.

Between 1982 and 1995 he had returned to independent television and presented a number of chatshows as well as the long running charades game show Give Us a Clue. He continues to write for newspapers as well as appearing on radio and TV. 1 There is no credit on the cover, just the sleeve, and EMI had forced the addition of Paul's name as Wings had not been successful up until the release of Band on the Run. 2 The song became part of Wings' live repertoire. 3 Monarch and St Nicholas were in Steppenwolf, Meisner in The Eagles and Gray in Knack. As for Davis, he is Spencer Davis. 4 British ex-boxer who turned to a theatrical 'career'. 5 This constituency has existed since 1983, in north-east Cambridgeshire. 6 A scratch handicap is when you've got a handicap of zero, ie when you play a round of golf, you don't deduct any points from your final scoure. Band On The Run Band On The Run Band On The Run - Front Cover Band On The Run - Rear Cover Look at differences in U.S. cover below !

Band On The Run - Inner Sleeve Band On The Run - Rear Cover - U.S. Note: Linda moved, extra inkblot, picture more cropped. Band On The Run - C.D. Front Cover Band On The Run - Vinyl Label Band On The Run - C.D. 1 Band On The Run - U.S. Picture Disc Front Band On The Run - U.S. Picture Disc Rear Label 1 ... from 27th July 1974, for 7 weeks. Weeks in Chart : + 1 ... 27th March 1999, 25th Anniversary edition reached number 69 + 4 ... from 7th November 2010, Remastered edition reached number 17 === Detail : Paul's fifth solo release, credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". Wings III - Paul, Linda and Denny Laine. A Wings album that took off slowly, taking seven months to reach number one, became the biggest seller by far, staying in the U.K.

charts an amazing 124 weeks (Two and one-third years !!) It was the best selling album in Britain in 1974, and by the end of 1974 had sold over six million copies worldwide. The original L.P. contains all the words on one side of the inner sleeve, plus a poster of "polaroid snapshots". The 25th anniversary C.D. edition has a very well-written booklet which recounts all the story of the creation of this L.P. and the cover photo, so I don't have to say it again here. The full story from the booklet follows the track-list below. But pertinent points are : The album wasn't ONLY recorded at EMI's studios in Lagos, it was also recorded in Ginger Baker's ARC studios (also in Lagos), in Trident studios in London, and the orchestral sounds arranged by Tony Visconti were added at AIR studios, London. The recording sessions from 1st-22nd September 1973 in Lagos produced all the album tracks, plus : "Helen Wheels" - released separately as a single, "Zoo Gang" - An instrumental theme for a T.V.

show, "B-side to Seaside" - issued as the B-side to Seaside Woman, "Oriental Nightfish" - later used as a cartoon soundtrack. Also in November 1973 in Paris, Wings re-record "Seaside Woman", "B-side to Seaside" and "Oriental Nightfish", plus : "Wide Prairie" - A Linda song, unreleased for 25 years, "Luxi" - A jingle intended for Radio Luxemburg (208) which include BOTR titles in the lyrics, "I Got Up" - A Linda song, unreleased for 25 years. As well as the band, the front cover picture features Michael Parkinson, Kenny Lynch, James Coburn, Clement Freud, Christopher Lee and John Conteh. (Full story below) Paul commissioned Gordon House and Storm Thorgerson to shoot a promo for the album, which they did featuring behind the scenes footage of the creation of the album cover photograph. Never shown in full anywhere, it was seen as a backdrop on tour with Paul. Interestingly, as you can see in my scans above, the rear album cover pictures on the standard U.K. and U.S. editions differ.

Also above, I purchased a picture disc version released in the states on Capitol in 1978, catalogue number SEAX 11901 ... the front cover has a big circle cut-out and if you look closely you can see the track bandings on the disc. Being as mine has NEVER been played, and is in mint condition, it's value is over �30. Side 1 Inspired by a George Harrison quote at a meeting at "Apple", "If we ever get out of here" 5:11 Inspired by Paul's labrador puppy. Features Howie Casey on Saxophone. 4:07 Features Howie Casey on Saxophone, and Remi Kabaka assisting on percussion. 3:21 Features Howie Casey on Saxophone 4:38 Mamunia McCartney Paul discovered this song title from a house name-plate he saw in Marrakesh during a Wings holiday earlier in 1973 (in Arabic, the word means a safe haven) 4:50 No Words McCartney-Laine Wings roadies Ian and Trevor joined in the backing vocals on "No Words", the only song on Band On The Run not written by Paul.

It had been started by Denny and completed by Paul. 2:33 Written after a suggestion by Dustin Hoffman. Sounds during the "Hey-ho" fade-out are tin cans filled with stones, shaken by Ginger Baker. 5:46 Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five McCartney Often heard during the first series of "Trigger Happy T.V." 5:27 Further Issues of "Band On The Run" There was also a cassette version released just after the initial release date in Feb.1974, TC-PAS 10007. Unlike previous Wings L.P.'s this one is NOT deleted. January 1985 The next L.P. release is on the Parlophone label, ATAK 19 (+ TCATAK 19) ... deleted 1988. 4th February 1985 The first C.D. release, released on the international catalogue number CDP 7 46055 2, this first CD only includes the original U.K. album tracks (NO "Helen Wheels"). April 1993 A "Re-master" re-issue C.D.

has catalogue number CDPMCOL 5 (+ TCPMCOL 5), (international number CDP 7 89240 2), This has a running time of 48:12 as it adds tracks : Track The bonus tracks are familiar as A-and-B-side of the hit single. 22nd March 1999 A 25th Anniversary edition is issued. Released on Parlophone, catalogue number 4991 762 (international number - 7243 4 99176 2). "THIS ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF BAND ON THE RUN IS DEDICATED TO MY BEAUTIFUL LINDA AND HER INDOMITABLE SPIRIT" PAUL McCARTNEY. Housed in a cardboard boxset, it contains TWO C.D.'s, a 24 page booklet, plus, a small version of the poster that had come with the original L.P. release ... the "polaroid snapshots". One other difference from the original L.P. is that where the album said "McCartney" was the composer, the C.D. now says composed by "Paul and Linda McCartney".

Disc 1 of the two C.D. set contains, the full U.S. edition of Band On The Run, e.g. including "Helen Wheels". Disc 2 relives the period when the original album was made and includes the voices of Paul and Linda, Dustin Hoffman, and the front cover celebrities. It also includes (mostly as backing behind speech) unreleased outtakes of the final album tracks. AFTER any further re-issues following, will be the FULL DETAILS of Disc 2 and Booklet notes from this 25th Anniversary edition. 1st November 2010 A new digitally remastered campaign for Band On The Run issued in FOUR different formats: Single C.D. album of the original 9 tracks digitally remastered [at Abbey Road Studios]. Record Label: Hear Music Catalogue No: 723 2148 A three disc edition: the digitally remastered CD album; a Bonus CD featuring nine bonus recordings including the hit single 'Helen Wheels' and the One Hand Clapping television special; plus a Bonus DVD containing rare footage of the McCartney's in Lagos, behind-the-scenes at the famous album cover shoot and original 'Band on the Run' music video clips.

Record Label: Hear Music Catalogue No: 723 2564 A four disc set: the digitally remastered CD album; Two Bonus CDs featuring nine bonus recordings including the hit single 'Helen Wheels', the One Hand Clapping television special, and a remastered documentary disc featuring interviews and alternative versions of the album tracks; plus a Bonus DVD containing rare footage of the McCartney's in Lagos, behind-the-scenes at the famous album cover shoot and original 'Band on the Run' music video clips. All set within a 120-page hardbound book containing many previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, album and single artwork and a full history of the album, complete with lyrics, new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information for all four discs. Record Label: Hear Music Catalogue No: 723 2565 And a Deluxe Edition 18-track 2-LP set pressed on 180gram Heavyweight Audiophile Vinyl, complete with nine Bonus Recordings including the hit single 'Helen Wheels' and the One Hand Clapping television special.

Presented in a gatefold picture sleeve complete with a download code and a Collectors Poster Record Label: Hear Music Catalogue No: 723 2566 7th November 2010 - The new re-release entered the U.K. chart at number 17. 14th November 2010 - Second week in the chart in this run sees it drop 20 places to number 37. 21st November 2010 - Third week in the chart in this run sees BOTR drop 34 places to number 71. 28th November 2010 - Fourth week in the chart in this run sees BOTR climb again just one place to number 70. 5th December 2010 - Fifth and final week visible in the chart sees BOTR drop out the official chart to number 93.

25th Anniversary Edition Bonus Disc Details (1999) Here follows the disc 2 tracklist : 1 (Dialogue) 04:22 19 PICASSO's LAST WORDS (Drink To Me) (Acoustic Version) 01:11 20 BAND ON THE RUN (Nicely Toasted Mix) (Dialogue Link 17) 00:42 21 BAND ON THE RUN (Northern Comic Version) 00:36 Notes from the 24-page booklet (1999) : THE RECORDING OF BAND ON THE RUN By 1973 it was clear that Paul McCartney was continuing the fast-track pace of record releases that the Beatles had established the previous decade. Unveiled that December, Band On The Run arrived some three and a half years after the Beatles final album and yet it was already Paul's fifth - and his third with Wings. What is more, in the same period, Wings had also issued several singles not on those albums, cut enough additional tracks to fill a further platter or two, toured three times in less than two years, made a TV special and numerous promo videos and taken a band holiday.

And all this while the McCartneys were raising a young family. And yet ... and yet ... of all these early, hectic projects Band On The Run is the album that really shouldn't have worked; it is an album, indeed, that remains as good a proof as any that art can indeed triumph over adversity - Big Time. The circumstances of the recording of Band On The Run were such that the project seemed to have a mighty hex hanging over it. Instead, it was an achievement that smashed sales records and re-established Paul McCartney's artistic credentials with the record-buying public. Wings toured Britain in the spring/summer of 1973 in support of their second album Red Rose Speedway and its single, "My Love". These were the band's first shows for the British general public, following their excursions a year earlier when the McCartneys and their new musician friends piled into a van and famously turned up at universities and asked if they could play for the students at 50p a throw. Wings" 1973 tour followed a more traditional route, though: 15 theatre dates in May and four more in July when the band returned to the road to plug their Bond-theme single "Live And Let Die".

(Fantastically, this reached number 007 on the NME chart) Then, post-tour, the McCartneys drove up to their Scottish retreat, where, within days, Paul and Linda began writing the songs for Band On The Run. As ever, they drew inspiration for these new songs from a wide variety of sources, and though Band On The Run was largely recorded beyond the UK, its lyrical influences remain firmly British, with references to plastic macs, suffragettes, registered charities, blinking lights and the need for "a pint a day" (I"ll vote for that, JPGR). "Down in the jungle, living in a tent" was a catchphrase of the British music-hall comic Charlie Chester, "Jet" was the name of one of the family's labrador puppies in London (recalling "Martha My Dear", this was the second time that Paul had titled a song after a dog), and "Helen Wheels"- the McCartneys" nickname for their Land Rover - even cited Glasgow, Carlisle, Kendal, Liverpool and Birmingham as it journeyed down the M6 motorway.

But there was also an internationalism abroad, viz the mentions of the desert world, the county judge, Vanderbilt, Washington and UCLA. Paul derived the song title "Mamunia" from a house name-plate he saw in Marrakesh during a Wings holiday earlier in 1973 (in Arabic, the word means a safe haven), and "Picasso's Last Words" was written in Jamaica in late April 1973, in circumstances that would be re-told in a most entertaining fashion. It was composed at the behest of Dustin Hoffman, who invited Paul to write a song on the spur of the moment and handed him a copy of 'time" magazine as inspiration, pointing to an article titled "Pablo Picasso's Last Days and Final journey". Although Paul had recorded McCartney, solo, at home and in London studios, and he and Linda had taped Ram in New York and Los Angeles just a few months later, Wings had latterly established a pattern of recording in London, principally at the EMI Studios on Abbey Road.

Being an international company, however, EMI had studio operations in a number of countries; seeking somewhere new to work, by way of a change from Abbey Road, Paul asked EMI to let him know the cities where Wings could record in the company's own studios. The list included Bombay, Rio de Janeiro, Peking and Lagos. Lagos! For Paul, the word conjured up images of lazy days, hazy days, hot tropical days, days of ceaseless music and buzzy rhythms on the west coast of Africa. He envisaged "lying on the beach all day, doing nothing and recording at night". But as he noted later, drily, "It didn't turn out quite like that." It was a cavalier decision. The McCartneys didn't know that Nigeria was run by a gun-happy military government, the result of a coup seven years earlier. They didn't know that, while Nigeria was a member of the British Commonwealth, the first thing they'd see at the airport was men wielding machine guns, that lepers walked the streets, that even the capital city had open drainage, that few things functioned there - officially or unofficially - without generous paying.

Perhaps they also didn't know that they would be arriving in Nigeria towards the end of its rainy season, when the heat and humidity were at their most intolerable for Westerners and the Lagos rain fell in monsoon-like torrents. They were almost certainly unaware that, before leaving England, they'd have to be given inoculation after inoculation to prevent the risk of catching cholera, typhoid, polio and sundry other ghastlies. Whatever, at the beginning of August 1973, just over a week before they were due to fly out Paul and Linda invited Wingsmen Denny Laine, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell to Scotland, where they could routine the new songs together. Straight away, though, it was clear that relations within the band were strained. Rumours that Henry, the lead guitarist, was planning to quit had hung over the British tour; now he quickly fell into a dispute with Paul over a guitar passage that he declined to play. Each knew that compromise was the best solution but neither was prepared to budge - McCullough walked out and then phoned to announce his resignation.

Then, on 8 August, the evening before departure, drummer Denny Seiwell also withdrew, telling Paul by phone that they should go on without him. Wings had been reduced from a quintet to a trio within the space of a few days. Never mind, Paul declared, he'd worked without these guys before and he could do so again. He had drummed on stage a few times, and on the McCartney album, so now he would pick up the sticks once more. Moreover, he and rhythm guitarist Denny Laine could easily share Henry's lead parts. And at least the recording process itself would be in safe hands, for Paul had invited Geoff Emerick to engineer the sessions. Geoff had been a good friend for some seven years, his talents having helped the Beatles to shape no lesser albums than Revolver, Sgt.Pepper and Abbey Road. Emerick. certainly was ill-prepared for working in the Nigerian studio. The EMI building, situated in Wharf Road in the suburb of Apapa, was distinctly ramshackle. The control desk was faulty and there was just one tape machine, a Studer eight- track which, in all likelihood, was a past-its-prime outcast from London.

The studio was not equipped with the proper acoustic screens necessary for sound separation, and it was only after a search that the microphones were discovered in a cardboard box in a cupboard. At the rear of the studio, through a door that was thankfully soundproofed, EMI ran a record pressing-plant, where staff bustled over noisy machinery and stuffed discs into sleeves. On the first day, Geoff Emerick was introduced to the studio manager, "Monday", and a friendly chap, charmingly named "Innocence", who would man the tape machine for him. There was little security at the studio, though - certainly no sign of a commissionaire or security guard - but Wings discreet presence in Lagos meant that few people stopped by the studio to seek autographs. Wings rented a couple of houses near to the airport, at lkeja, an hour's drive from the studio. Paul, Linda and their children (three, at this point) stayed in one; Denny Laine, Geoff Emerick and Wings two roadies resided in the other.

But Geoff took a strong dislike towards the local creepy-crawly population - the spiders and lizards in particular - and after Denny kindly put some dead spiders in his bed, as a "surprise", and another occasion when he woke up one morning to see an iguana flicking its tongue at him through the window, he opted to stay in a hotel instead. A daily pattern was quickly established. Paul wanted to swim, so temporary membership of a local country club was arranged - the manager said that they could join if Paul signed a photograph of the Beatles that was hanging on one of the walls. Mornings were mostly spent here, followed by a leisurely lunch. Then each afternoon at around 3 the team were driven to the recording studio, where work proceeded until 10pm, although on a few occasions it continued until 4 or 5 the following morning. No recording was done at weekends, when tourism and relaxation were the top priorities. One day was spent with Chief Abiora, who invited everyone to his country house in Dahomey, and another was spent attending a party on a nearby island. The recording of most tracks began with Paul playing drums and Denny the rhythm guitar, laying down the songs foundation.

From here, by a process of layering, and with Linda adding keyboards, each song slowly took shape. No mean lead guitarist, Paul played most of these parts. Losing the two band members had galvanised Paul, Linda and Denny, fostering a "we'll show yer" attitude and a survival instinct that might not otherwise have been present. But while the sessions ran smoothly, the technical problems notwithstanding, the McCartneys experienced other local difficulties. Although they had been warned not to walk anywhere, Paul and Linda considered that little harm would come to them if they did, but strolling back from Denny Laine's villa one evening they became aware that they were being tailed by a car. In a flash, five young men jumped out of the vehicle and robbed them at knifepoint, the shiny steel blade being pointed at Paul's throat while the possessions were handed over and Linda pleaded with the men not to murder her husband. The muggers took every valuable item the McCartneys were carrying - camera, jewellery, money and even the cassettes on to which Paul had recorded demos of the songs he planned to record. If I ever get out of here, thought of giving it all away ...

The robbery was deeply distressing and it was only a small comfort for Paul and Linda to be told later, that, had they been black, they would almost certainly have been killed, lest they identify their assailants. White people, it was reckoned, are often unable to distinguish black faces, so there was little likelihood of this happening. On another worrying occasion, Paul collapsed in the recording studio, unable to breath and complaining of pains. Desperate for some fresh air, he staggered outside, only to pant in the fetid tropical atmosphere. Linda suspected that he was having a heart attack and urgent medical assistance was sought. The doctor ordered rest. Emotions were becoming raw. On an evening visit to The African Shrine, a club owned by the local Afrobeat star and political activist Fela Ransome-Kuti, Paul began to cry. As he told me in 1994, "When Fela and his band eventually began to play, after a long, crazy build-up, I just couldn't stop weeping with joy. It was a very moving experience." Again, though for every Lagos "up" there seemed to be a 'down".

Having seen Paul at the club, Ransome-Kuti went on Lagos radio claiming that Paul was in the country to exploit and steal African music. He even dropped by the EMI studio one day, accompanied by his entourage, and accused Paul face to face. Paul played him the tracks to assure him that he wasn't using any African musicians or sounds, and that such recordings could have been made anywhere in the world. All the same, Paul felt which way the wind was blowing and opted not to invite any local musicians to play on the album in case it inflamed the situation. There was also some tension with the drummer Ginger Baker, formerly of Cream, who had left England for Nigeria and set up a recording venue in Ikeia. Baker wanted Paul to record all of his album at his place, ARC Studio; to keep the peace, Paul promised to go there for a day. "Picasso's Last Words" - a song intentionally fragmented, to reflect Picasso's cubist work - was taped at ARC. Pleasingly, Ginger Baker joined in the fun, playing a percussive tin of gravel on the song. Eventually, by the third week of September, Wings were more than ready to return to England.

Paul and Linda hosted an end-of-album beach barbecue to celebrate and everyone flew back to Gatwick, landing on 23 September - to a greeting from scores of fans and journalists despite the delayed 3am arrival. Some two weeks after returning to London, Wings went back into the studio to complete the album. Most of this final work was done at George Martin's AIR Studios on Oxford Street (although George himself did not participate). Songs requiring overdubs were transferred from the Lagos eight-track tapes to 16-track. Howie Casey, an old mate of Paul's from Liverpool (Howie Casey and the Seniors were the first Mersey beat band to gain a London recording contract), was brought in to craft sax solos on "Bluebird" and "Mrs Vandebilt", thus rekindling a friendship that led to Casey's involvement in all of Wings subsequent concerts. Wings roadies Ian and Trevor joined in the backing vocals on "No Words", the only song on Band On The Run not written by Paul and Linda - it was a McCartney-Laine composition, started by Denny and completed by Paul. And then Remi Kabaka came in to overdub percussion on "Bluebird".

In a neat irony, Kabaka, a former bandmate of Ginger Baker's , turned out to have hailed from Lagos, so a local musician appeared on the album after all. The most significant work effected at AIR was the recording of "Jet", and the overdubbing of orchestral parts. Paul invited Tony Visconti to write the arrangements, admiring his production work. (He also happened to be married to Paul's former Apple prot�g�e Mary Hopkin.) Visconti scored the orchestral overdub on "Band On The Run", strings and saxes on "Jet", brass and strings on "No Words", strings on "Picasso's Last Words", and strings for end of "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five". (Also during these AIR sessions, Linda recorded "Oriental Nightfish", eventually released on the album Wide Prairie in 1998.) After the cover photo was shot on 28 October, Band On The Run was completed with a rapid three-day mix at Kingsway Studios. A month later the album was in the shops. Even more rapidly, "Helen Wheels", also recorded in Lagos, was rushed out as a single, released in Britain before the end of October.

Despite the rollercoaster Lagos experience, the wish for Wings to work in unusual locale continued to burn within Paul McCartney. Even before the album was out they were recording at EMI's Paris studios (where they taped, among other tracks, Linda's "Wide Prairie"), Nashville sessions in 1974 led to the "Junior's Farm" single, much of Venus And Mars was cut in New Orleans, London Town was mostly recorded on a boat moored off the Virgin lslands, "Mull Of Kintyre" was taped on location in that remote part of Scotland, "Daytime Nightime Suffering" was recorded in the basement at Paul and Linda's London office, and the band's final album, Back To The Egg, was cut within the draughty walls of Lympne Castle in Kent. Speaking recently, Paul considered that Band On The Run was the second most enjoyable album he'd made since the Beatles, the first being McCartney. "It was a challenge to be in Lagos, and very uphill," he reflected, but Paul McCartney is never one to shirk from a challenge. Miraculously, the album is so assured - buoyant even - the songs are uniformly strong and the vocals and musicianship brim with confidence.

Band On The Run went gold in the USA 12 days after release, was voted best album of 1973 by Rolling Stone, was the best-selling album in Britain in 1974, and became the first McCartney album to be issued in the still iron-curtained Soviet Union. At the 1975 Grammy Awards it won two honours, Best Contemporary/Pop Vocal and, for Geoff Emerick's work, Best Engineered Album. Despite - or perhaps because of - the litany of trials that surrounded its making, Band On The Run was a glorious accomplishment. Mark Lewisohn. THE COVER PHOTO As his car eased into the grounds of one of London's finest houses, Paul McCartney is unlikely to have realised that he was just five weeks away from releasing his most successful work since the Beatles and probably his best-loved: the Wings album Band On The Run. He also is unlikely to have realised that the finishing touch he was about to apply to this vinyl, cassette and cartridge release would swiftly secure a place in the pantheon of The World's Most Recognisable Pieces Of Cover Art. The date was Sunday 28 October 1973.

Two days earlier, Wings, mightily productive, had released "Helen Wheels" as their new single; now they were going to create the sleeve for their second album of the year.The idea for the cover echoed ever so slightly another record with which Mr McCartney was strongly associated: Sgt Pepper. For that sleeve, back in 1967, four real people had posed among cardboard cut-outs and wax effigies that combined to make up a crowd of famous faces. Now, to depict a band on the run, there were nine famous people, in prison uniform, breaking out of jail. About to scale a wall to complete the breakout, however, the escapees are framed in the harsh glare of a guard's searchlight. Three of these nine comprised Paul, Linda and fellow Wings bandmate Denny Laine, the other six were celebrities certainly recognisable to the British observer, two or three of them known also beyond the UK's shores.

Sleevewise, left to right, those trying to Run numbered Michael Parkinson (the journalist best known for his Saturday-night TV chat show), Kenny Lynch (the singer, occasional actor and TV wagster), Paul, James Coburn (the American actor - he happened to be in Britain at the time filming The Internecine Project), Linda, Clement Freud (the gourmet, raconteur and wit who went into politics), Christopher Lee (the actor best known for his horror movie roles), Denny Laine, and John Conteh (the boxer from Liverpool who went on to become World Light-Heavyweight champion). All six celebrities had been summoned to Osterley Park in West London, a mere vapour trail away from Heathrow Airport - where - in the lake-dotted grounds of the 16th-century Osterley House - a brick wall adjacent to a gravel path had been selected as the prime location for the cover photo. One by one the Band wishing to Run arrived from their luncheon rendezvous, to be met not only by the McCartneys chosen photographer Clive Arrowsmith, but also a film crew under the direction of Barry Chattington, exposing the events on to 16mm.

Handily, or perhaps it wasn't a coincidence, Sunday 28 October was the first day of the 1973 British winter time, Britons having turned back their clocks by one hour just the night before. This meant that the darkness necessary for the session fell quickly, late in the afternoon, shortly after the prisoners-to-be had made their way to a locker room inside Osterley House, where they changed into the garb they would wear for the shoot. While Linda moved around the room taking Polaroids, Paul chatted comfortably with Conteh and Parkinson, jested with Parkinson's children, who had come along to watch the fun, and prompted a brief "Misery" duet with Kenny Lynch that turned back the calendar ten years - Lynch had been the first artist to record a cover version of a Beatles song when, in March 1963, he released the Please Please Me track as a single simultaneous with the Fab Four's own version. Linda then grouped together half a dozen of the nine for an informal shot that prompted Paul to joke "This is the cover.

Forget the prison outfits!" If this easy-going atmosphere conveys a sense of confidence in what was to follow, then it ought not, for it seems that none of the six celebrity invitees knew precisely what was in store for them. So it was on a need-to-know basis that Clement Freud sidled up to Paul and asked him, blankly, "What do you have in mind?". "Prison," Paul replied, in a single word. "A mixed prison?" Paul McCartney & Wings 'Band on the Run' (Lyric Video) - YouTube Paul McCartney & Wings 'Band on the Run' (Lyric Video) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 29, 2014 Directed and produced by visual artist Ben Ib. April 2014 marks the 'Band on the Run' U.S.

single's anniversary, released as a 7" on 8th April, 1974 (28th June 1974 in the UK, fact fans!). The 'Band on the Run' album was recorded in EMI Studios, Lagos and AIR Studios, London between August and October of 1973. Wings were without a drummer at the time so Paul stepped in and recorded all the drum tracks. It was during the Lagos sessions that Paul and Linda were mugged losing their money, camera and the original album demos to the thieves! This unfortunate event didn't stop 'Band on the Run' from becoming Wings' most successful album. It was the top selling album in the UK in 1974 and reached no.1 in the US on 3 separate occasions. It has gone on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.

The 'band on the run' on the iconic front cover features broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, singer / actor Kenny Lynch, actor James Coburn, actor Christopher Lee, boxer John Conteh as well as Paul, Linda and Denny Laine The album was re-mastered and reissued in 2010 as the first release in the on-going Paul McCartney Archive Collection, featuring previously unreleased performances and rare documentary footage. Get your copy of the remastered 'Band on the Run' here: Amazon -- Click HERE:

Question: Which boxer's image appeared on the cover of the Band on the Run album?
Answer: JOHN CONTEH